College dormitory rooms are typically small and have tall furniture such as dressers, combination microwave-refrigerator units, and desks abutted against beds. These items abutted to the bed are either too high to conveniently hold items that would be handy to view, use, or retrieve while lying in bed, or there simply may not be sufficient surface space remaining on these abutted items of furniture to hold said items because those surfaces are utilized to hold other items important to the dormitory room occupants. These items abutted next to the bed prohibit the use of bedside tables that might be found in a residential bedroom.
Furthermore, bedposts do not typically abut directly against the dormitory room walls because there is typically at least one of wall molding, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and other electrical equipment protruding inward from the wall surface. The resulting gap between the bedpost and the wall caused by said items provides adequate space for a shelf to hold personal items such as, but not limited to a clock, radio, reading lamp, eyeglasses, notepad, writing instrument, remote control, mobile telephone, handheld audio player, headset, and handheld video player.
In a configuration where two beds are bunked, one above the other, the occupant of the upper bunk has no easy access to any flat surface.
It is anticipated that the instant invention will find use anywhere beds similar to those used in dormitory rooms are used: homes, camps, and military quarters.
A bedpost shelf exists, U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,874 issued to Gawronski, but it protrudes into the sleeping space above the mattress where items held on the shelf might be thrown over the edge of the shelf or the bed occupant may awaken or injure themselves if they bump into the shelf as the bed occupant tosses and turns throughout sleep.
Other bedside shelves also exists, but have the disadvantage of extending into the space adjacent to the bed. Given that some dormitory rooms are so small that other furniture abuts the bed, there is often not sufficient bed rail space to utilize this shelf and provide space for easy ingress and egress from the bed.
One feature of some dormitory beds is that they are designed to be stacked in a bunk bed configuration. Many beds designed to be bunked have vertical holes drilled into the top and bottom face of the bedpost to accept a mating pin which keeps the lower and upper bunk bedposts aligned, the latter atop of the former. This vertical hole in the top face of the bedpost can serve as the mating interface for a bed shelf if the bed is not bunked.
The advantage of the instant invention is that it occupies space that is typically underutilized in a dormitory room, does not protrude significantly into the sleeping area above the mattress, does not limit space around the bed for easy ingress and egress, is easily installed without tools, and it will not damage the bedpost.